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You’re going to think I’m crazy. Most of my friends and family already do, so I may as well let the cat out of the bag… I hate the way this Cookie Dough Cake turned out. Flavour-wise, it’s perfect; aesthetically, not so much. This is not what it was supposed to look like! Or rather, it was supposed to be less messy looking. You’re rolling your eyes at me already, I can tell. That’s ok, I fully embrace my craziness.

I’d been wanting to do a cookie dough frosting for some time now, and thought it would pair perfectly with my chocolate cake recipe. If you haven’t tried this chocolate cake, you need to. It’s a really easy recipe and makes the fudgiest cake. I used my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe for the frosting, except I swapped out the eggs for milk and left out the baking soda. I use the term “frosting” lightly. It’s basically cookie dough whipped into oblivion. You could add more milk to make it even lighter if you prefer.

Ok, so my plan was always to do a naked cake, so that the cookie dough frosting would contrast nicely with the dark chocolatey layers. That went mostly ok, except the cookie dough was a bit difficult to spread evenly due to the chocolate chips. Thank goodness I didn’t use the full 2 cups of chocolate chips in the original recipe!! If you used mini-chocolate chips this would be less of an issue. It wasn’t really an issue, but as you know I’m a perfectionist and those layers better be perfectly even and flat! Anyhow…

Frosting this Cookie Dough Cake was pretty straightforward, except for my spatula getting snagged on the chocolate chips here and there. The top part gave me the most trouble. I wanted to add a top layer of frosting to have the same number of frosting layers as cake layers, but that top layer was especially a pain to get flat and perfect. So, it isn’t. It’s kinda rounded and lopsided, and not really what I wanted. And because the top edges aren’t exactly crisp, the drips turned out less than perfect. They’re like, too evenly spaced or something. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something’s off, and I don’t like it. I can feel you rolling your eyes.

At some point the cake decided it would be fun to start tilting to the side too, so that was great. I had to try to nudge it straight and rotate it so that it looked even. Pics have been taken from the most flattering angle.

The beauty of naked cakes is that they’re super easy to decorate because they’re supposed to look more rustic and imperfect. This is a great technique if you’re worried about your cake frosting skills!

Cake decorating “issues” aside, I love the way this Cookie Dough Cake tastes!! If you’re a cookie dough lover (and really, why wouldn’t you be) you will love this frosting. It goes really well with the chocolate cake, but would go great with a classic vanilla cake too. The chocolate drips add another hit of chocolate and some flare. Topped off with some crumbled chocolate chip cookies for some crunch.

Notes & tips for this Cookie Dough Cake:

You can use hot water instead of hot coffee in the cake batter. The coffee helps to enhance the chocolate flavour, but it tastes just as good using hot water instead.

For the ganache, I let mine set overnight (with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface). It will be too thick at this point, so I microwave it for 10 secs and stir it until it’s the right consistency.

The drip technique works best on a chilled cake so that the drips set quickly.

To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my tips here.

You will have some cookie dough frosting left over. I recommend making Cookie Dough Truffles with the excess. Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe here!

Ganache:

INSTRUCTIONS

Chocolate Cake:

Preheat oven to 350F, grease three 6" round baking pans and dust with cocoa powder. Line bottoms with parchment.

Place all dry ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.

In a medium bowl whisk all wet ingredients (pour coffee in slowly as not to cook the eggs if very hot).

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix on medium for 2-3 mins. Batter will be very thin.

Pour evenly into prepared pans. I used a kitchen scale to ensure the batter is evenly distributed.

Bake for 20mins, rotate pans in oven.

Bake until a cake tester comes out mostly clean. A total of 30-35mins.

Cookie Dough Frosting:

Beat butter until creamy, add sugars and beat on high until pale and fluffy (approx. 2-3mins). Add vanilla and mix until combined.

Reduce speed to low and slowly add in flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Slowly pour in milk. Increase speed to med-high and beat for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips.

Ganache:

Place chopped chocolate and cream into a microwave safe bowl. Stir to combine. Microwave for 20 seconds, stir. Microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring in between, until ganache is smooth and silky. Set aside to cool completely before using on cake.

Assembly:

Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving dish. Top with about 2/3 cup buttercream. Repeat with remaining layers. Smooth the outside, chill for 30mins.

Using a teaspoon, drip ganache along the edges then fill in the top. Chill for 15mins.

Top with chopped cookies if desired.

NOTES

Note: You will have some cookie dough frosting left over. I recommend making Cookie Dough Truffles with the excess. Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe here!

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The nutritional information and metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or metric conversion tool.

Comments

My husband just got me a stand mixer and this was my first try making a cake from scratch. My attempt turned out pretty well despite my missteps. 1. I didn’t pay attention and only have two 9 inch pans instead of the three 6 inchers. I had to go on instinct for bake time (apparently I have good instincts). 2. I didn’t have plain coffee and ended up using a blueberry muffin flavored coffee. Because of this I did not make it a strong brew. 3. As I was putting the cakes in the oven I realized I had forgotten the vanilla in the batter. Despite all that, the family loved it. Next up, Butterbeer cake.

This cake looks amazing!! However, I am concerned about the flour not being cooked. More people get salmonella every year from uncooked flour than eggs. I would caution your readers against this. Unfortunately I will not be making this cake for this reason. (Hubby works in the ER…flour is the typical salmonella culprit…not eggs!). Just a friendly PSA. 😊

Can this cake be made the day before? We are having a birthday party with a lot of food, so I’d like to start on the desserts the day before if possible! However, if it would taste better by being made the day of, then I will definitely do that!

I’ve made this cake twice now for my chocolate-addict boyfriend and for a birthday party for some of our friends. Needless to say, I had many people coming back for multiple slices. My boyfriend took the cake from the party and put in back in the car before it was all gone so he could have the leftovers!

I’ve made it in two layers vs three and its cooked evenly and been so so delicious. The first time I made it I did the ganache and it was so so good, and really beautiful. I loved the appearance but I didn’t take ANY pictures – I was shocked! The second time I made a chocolate cream cheese buttercream instead and it was so delicious. I really can’t describe! So thank you thank you thank you for your genius in creating this recipe. I know I’ll be making it for a long, long time! <3

Hi! I love your blog, first of all. Everything you make is so cute and looks delicious! I had two questions because I really would like to make this for Christmas Eve at my house (my brother would love it.) 1. Will the cookie dough frosting work with toasted flour to prevent any E. Coli concerns? And 2. Can anything be subbed for the coffee in the recipie? I am “allergic” (it’s a migraine issue with smelling or having to much) I can use instant coffee grounds though, because they do not smell so strong.

Hi Meg! I’ve never used toasted flour, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. It might give it a slightly different flavour though. And you can totally just use hot water instead of coffee! I hope you like it 🙂

I love this recipe! I made it for my brother’s birthday and my whole family loved it. It was super easy to make but had that wow factor 🙂 my mom said it was “phenomenal”, we loved the cookie dough frosting!

I doubled this recipe because I made it as a birthday cake for a friend… Amazing!!! Everyone raved about it. I am still hearing about how good the cake was and the party was about 5 days ago. Thank you for this amazing recipe. It is definitely a keeper!

Hi Dolly! Do you have vinegar? If so you can make your own buttermilk by combining 1 cup of milk and 1 Tbsp of vinegar and letting it sit for 10mins or so (then only use 3/4 of that amount :)). You can try making the cake with regular milk, though I’m not sure there will be enough acid to activate the baking soda. It *should* be ok because the coffee is an acid too, I’ve just never tried it with regular milk. Let me know how it turns out!

This looks absolutely delish ! Stumbled upon your site, quite by chance as I was on the hunt for the perfect cake for my soon to be thirteen year old. I just think I might have found it.Cannot wait to try this !

Hi Regina! I totally get that. The coffee is just there to enhance the chocolate flavour, I swear you can’t taste it! But I’m a coffee lover so I might not be a good judge ;). You can just use hot water and leave the coffee out of it :).

Hi Jessica, it sounds like that one won’t make enough frosting for this cake. I can’t speak to the taste as the ratios are different than mine. Is there some reason you don’t want to use the recipe I have? I promise it’s delicious! 🙂

Hi Olivia,
The cookie dough layer was awesome! I actually halved the recipe as I only made a 2 layer cake. It turned out great and I still had some extra ( which I have been nibbling on). Next time I make it I will add more frosting in between the cake layers. So yummy! Thank you!!

Hi. I found a similar recipe to yours for the cookie dough part and she uses more butter, less milk and flour. How do you think it would affect the frosting? The website is eat drink love.
Thanks!
Jessica

Hi Jessica! It depends on the amounts but I don’t think it would have too huge an impact. If the frosting feels too thick you can always add more milk. I’m partial to this cookie dough recipe though 😊.

Hello Olivia. I love, love, love all your postings and made several of your bundt recipes (always a hit) and now venturing into trying your three layer cakes because they are gorgeous. Last weekend I made the blue bear cake with my 12 year old granddaughter (an experience we will never forget) and we ended up using only two layers because they were so big and it was too high. What is the typical height of your 3 layer cakes? I have a lot of left over buttercream frosting that I froze and don’t know exactly how to re-use it. My question on this cake is about the hot coffee needed. I am not a coffee drinker but have espresso powder. Can I use that somehow? Or do you have an alternative solution. By the way when I go shopping for supplies at Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma I always show them your webpage on my phone and they all rave about it. A huge fan, Gloria … with a lot of questions!

The 3 layer cakes I make can be quite high… I haven’t ever measured, but I’d say they’re about 6″ tall? Typically I only use 6″ round cake pans, so the cakes are smaller and taller, but I like that look. All of the 6″ 3-layer recipes will work as 8″ 2-layer cakes too though.

For this particular cake, the hot coffee helps bring out the flavour of the chocolate. I swear you can’t taste the coffee, but you can use just hot water if you prefer. You could also use the espresso powder and just dissolve it in the hot water :).

Please let me know if you have any more questions! I’m so glad you love the Bundts and are venturing into cakes! Woohoo!

Thank for getting back to me! I used 6″ pans and maybe different recipes might not puff up so high as the one for the blue bear cake… I did use the strips that you suggested as well. I love the look of the 6″ pans as well. Can you tell me how to re-use buttercream? Do you just defrost and it’s ready to go; or do I have to do something special with it? Today I am trying your confetti bundt with red, white and blue sprinkles! You should have a TV show!

The link to the cookie dough receipe called for 2 large eggs but in one of your comments you said “it was essentially cookie dough without the eggs” did you substitute something else for the eggs. I want to try this but have a phobia about feeing my family raw eggs.

Hi Sandra! The cookie dough frosting is in the cake post. The cookie recipe I liked to is for the cookies that I baked and used as props for the pictures. The cookie dough frosting uses milk instead of eggs.

I used the recipe for a birthday the other night. Hands down one of my favorite cake recipes, the frosting however solely tasted like raw flour so I opted for a traditional buttercream. Love that cake though thanks for the recipe!

This cake looks amazing! I want to try it for a Mother’s Day but am looking to make it in 9 inch pans. Would you recommend I just double the recipe and save a bit on the side? How much do u fill your pans up to typically? I know you mentioned it rises a bit… Thanks!

Hi Sandra! My recommendation would be to either:
– double the recipe and use three 9″ pans or,
– leave the recipe as is and use two 9″ pans
For the latter your layers will be a bit thinner than mine. I wanna say I fill my pans up no more than 1/2 full or so. Let me know how it goes! 🙂

I have a friend who did a naked cake as well the first time she hated it, but the second time she used acetate sheets and loved it. I gather you line a pan or plate with it in a tube shape and fill it with layers almost like a trifle bowl and then remove the sheets for that perfect image you want.

Hi Kristina! I used that method once on the Momofuku cake I made, it was MUCH cleaner and prettier for sure. I found the acetate sheets to be more work though and I am lazy! Lol. I’m sure I’ll try that way again soon :).

Ok, this looks great! I do have one question though. The directions say to spray and powder the pan, and then put parchment paper down? Why would you do it this way? Or is it an “or” you can put paper down? Thank you!

This sounds very yummy. My son loves chocolate chip cookie dough so I think he would like this cake for his birthday. I know I am crazy but I do not like coffee. Can I substitute hot water for the coffee?

This looks just fabulous. Now to see if I can convert the recipe to english quantities I reckon I need to make this.
So you use flour in the cookie dough filling and it is uncooked? Obv I have never eaten raw cookie dough ha ha.

Thanks Alex! Yep, it’s essentially cookie dough but without the eggs so it’s safe to eat :). And, cookie dough is delicious!! I can’t believe you haven’t tried it. You’ll have to let me know how you like it! 🙂

That is not correct. Raw flour can carry bacteria such as E. Coli and make people sick. The very young, very old, and immune-compromised are especially vulnerable. To avoid this, you can toast flour in your oven for 5 minutes before incorporating it into the recipe.

HOLY ish… COOKIES & CAKE TOGETHER!! Feed me! The cake looks perfect as is, but I completely understand when the vision isn’t fully realized. I’ve learned to embrace the imperfections in all their beauty and then eat them. 🙂

Hahahah I had the exact same problem with one of my layer cakes recently – it just did NOT want to sit straight, and was kind of curving out to the side. Luckily one side was much prettier so I took photos from there! Maybe skewers to stabilise it would have helped? Love the idea of cookie dough frosting too – sounds incredibly decadent and so perfect with chocolate cake.

This cake looks sinfully delicious. I totally understand how you feel about it not turning out the way you wanted, but one of my favorite comments from a friend was that desserts shouldn’t look completely perfect because then they will look commercial, instead of homemade with love!

I really want to make cupcakes using your recipe, how many cupcakes would this make and how long would you suggest baking them for?

Hi Leah! You’re friend is so right — too much perfection does make it seem more manufactured :). For the cupcakes — it should make about 24 (the batter is very thin but rises a lot). I would recommend checking them at 20mins to see if they’re done. Let me know how they turn out!

Hi Liv, you really are crazy, because to me this cake looks just perfect! 😉

I tried to picture the look you were going for (with the cookie dough frosting top) but I love the way those dramatic chocolate drips look on the cake! Definitely going to make this. Great photos, btw!

OMG Olivia! You must feel me rolling my eyes because…hello…This cake is AMAZING! My son Casey would adore it! He is a HUGE cookie dough fan. I am going to try to attempt this cake this year for his birthday in July. I’m sure mine will not even come near to yours, but I absolutely have to give it a go because it looks and sounds like layer cake perfection!

I want to try this but I must be missing something in the directions????? I make the cookie dough and then just add it directly between the cake layers? I just don’t see this step anywhere???? Sorry. 😕